As promised, I’m going to talk about my experience so far learning JavaScript and attempting to make a tiny, tiny game by May 1st.
I’ve gotten pretty interested in game design lately, and it’s something I want to pursue further. The best way to do that is to start making games! I don’t know any programming languages, so I’m sort of having to start from scratch here. Luckily, I’m in the unique and fortunate situation of having a husband who is a very talented programmer and eager to teach me everything I need to know. Private tutoring for free! The sooner I take advantage of that, the better.
Although I use HTML and CSS to make websites, the only programming language I have any experience with is PHP from working with WordPress, and not much of that. I told Nick I wanted to make a small game and learn programming basics, and together we decided that JavaScript would be fairly easy to learn (and HTML 5 will let me easily share the game if I ever get it to that state).
I’m aiming to “finish” the game (and I use that term lightly) by May 1st because I work best on a deadline and we’re hoping to start a larger game project together with a friend around that time, so I’ll be wanting to shift my attention there (hopefully I’ll be ready to learn/help more in the programming department).
You might remember that last year I started a point-and-click escape-the-maze type of game in JavaScript and HTML5. I actually got pretty far with the mechanics (despite only making one post about the game) but I ran into some bugs, got discouraged, and fell off the wagon. Other reasons for my failure probably include a lack of independence (I didn’t know any programming at all, so Nick had to hold my hand the whole time) and a lack of a deadline/motivation. I think I was also trying to make it a better game than it needed to be, without having the skills yet to do so.
This time, I just have a very small concept of a chase game where you navigate a Pac-Man-style map (though zoomed way in) and try to find a thief or spy by following the footprints they leave behind.
The very basics
I think one of the reasons I lost interest last time I tried to make a game was that I was learning way too much at once without any context. This time around, I decided to try learning the basics of JavaScript first through Codecademy.com. Codecademy offers a series of free programming lessons that cover the basics of a number of different languages. They also gamify the experience with points and badges. (The gamification of some things may be controversial, but I think it’s perfect for tedious work like studying). So earlier this month, I got started on the JavaScript track and finished up a little over a week later. I will admit that I found the process boring a lot of the time, but I’m definitely glad I stuck with it. (And I think Codecademy did a great job finding the balance between teaching and letting me discover and learn things on my own).
Getting set up
At this point, Nick helped me make a burndown in Google docs, set up my game environment in Aptana (which is what I was using for my other game), and get me started with a game loop. It was amazing what a difference going through the Codecademy track made. Nick was teaching me things he had already taught me back when I tried to make a game before, but I was able to follow so much more this time around. Before, I would get really hung up on things like semicolon usage, or what a function even was. It was great to be able to just skip all of that stuff and really comprehend what the code was doing. We started off using this simple game tutorial as a guideline and then worked from there. Before long, we had canvas, a sprite that could move with the arrow keys, and some background music!
Interaction
Today, I finished implementing collision detection. Nick helped me write the code for the game to know when my sprite was colliding with (or overlapping in space with) a rectangle that we drew, and I had to come up with a way to make the code interpret that signal in a way that makes it seem like the sprite is colliding with the rectangle. I made variables for when the sprite is colliding to the right, left, up, and down, and then added if statements to the four arrow key inputs to only move the sprite if they weren’t colliding in their relative directions. It was satisfying to think of a solution, implement it, and have it actually work! Nick had to clean things up a bit after me, but it was pretty good at its core. I feel like it’s the first time I’m getting to problem-solve like this with code, and I’m happy that I’m able to do it (even if I’m at the most basic level).
Next Steps: Map building, character AI, camera?
Now that I can make my sprite collide with something on the map, I need to actually build the whole map and get the game to know which areas are obstructions. Nick says this will be easy, but I can’t really imagine how it will work yet! Since I want most of the map to be off-screen, I guess I’ll also need to figure out how to make the “camera” track the main player sprite (again, no clue!). Then hopefully we can add in the suspect character that the player will be chasing. There’s a lot of work to do before May 1st!
Thoughts
I’m having fun with the project and I’m satisfied with my learning so far. It is a bit hard to find the right time to work on it, though. During the day, I convince myself that there are more important things that need to be done. And in the evenings, when it makes the most sense to work on it because Nick is home and can help, I usually don’t feel like sitting at the computer anymore since I’ve been doing that all day. I think I need to find a balance between doing some game work during the day and finding non-computer things to do (chores are all I can think of, or maybe exercise) to keep me from getting burnt out at the desk.
The other big obstacle right now is that I’m an awful student! This has been the source of many fights between me and Nick. I’m really impatient, I’m easily bored and distracted, I take criticisms and suggestions too personally, and I’m not as engaged in the learning process as Nick would like. I don’t know what it is, and this isn’t the first time this has happened. I think part of it is a combination of not liking being bad at things and being used to learning independently. I hope that being more aware of this problem will help me catch it and stop it before it leads to any more fights. I want to be a good student (and not drive my husband crazy)!